Kerbol

Kerbol, also known as Kerbin Prime, The Sun, and The Star is a K class main sequence star and parent to the planets Moho, Eve, Kerbin, Duna and Jool.

Compared to our own Sun; Kerbol is roughly 100 times less massive and has a radius 26 times smaller then that of the Sun. A proper classification of a star also requires knowledge of it's luminosity and temperature, which due the simulated nature of Kerbol makes it hard to ascertain.

Reference Frames

A picture taken of a probe on a close encounter with Kerbol shortly before overheating.

The star Kerbol shines brightly through space.

	Paid (0.17)	Demo (0.13.3)
Warp	Minimum Altitude
1x	n/a
2x	0 m
5x	? m (within kill zone?)	? m
10x	6,540,000 m
50x	13,080,000 m	16,350,000 m
100x	26,160,000 m	32,700,000 m
1000x	52,320,000 m	65,400,000 m
10000x	65,400,000 m	130,800,000 m

All Kerbol orbits are in an inertial reference frame. Getting close enough to experience lower maximum time warps results in attacks by the Deep Space Kraken.

Orbiting Bodies

Kerbol has five orbiting planets; Moho, Eve, Kerbin, Duna and Jool; some of these planets have orbiting moons them selves. This star does not have any asteroids or comets orbiting it.

Trivia

• Between versions 0.7 and 0.10.1, Kerbol was a mere point of light in the skybox
• It became possible to reach Kerbol in 0.11
• Kerbol gained gravity in 0.12
• It is still safe to drop below the 'surface' in 0.13.3, but a ship can break up from the extreme gravity gradients and/or shot outwards at large fractions of c.
• Since 0.14, close encounters will result in a collision that destroys the ship and kills all crew members.
• The current 'surface' of Kerbol is an invisible, and likely, featureless plateau approximately 4500-4700 km above the nominal radius. There is no known way to land on it, as the Kraken makes all maneuvering difficult, and the gravity reduces the TWR of all engines below 1. One can attempt to place edited parts on the surface, but they bounce erratically at a few hundred to a few thousand m/s if they do not explode.
• While Kerbol can be reached from Kerbin's orbit by using a Hohmann transfer orbit, a spacecraft doing so will require a ΔV of about 8 km/s to do so. The most efficient way to reach Kerbol from Kerbin's orbit is to use a Bi-Elliptic transfer. With a sufficiently-distant apoapsis, the required ΔV to sundive can be reduced to under 4km/s, at the expense of drastically-increased flight time.
• The name 'Kerbol' was created by forum members, it never appears in the game. In game the star is referred to as "the Sun"

Changes

?

• Actual model added

?

• Initial Release